The Madman's Clock

Chapter 16

"Get out of the way!" I yelled, as crewmen tried to flee the fire and us. "Clear the chamber!"

The ladder down was swarming with crew trying to clear the catwalk. The circular catwalk was a shooting gallery for the shooter below, and the crew was desperate to get out of the way. They hurried around the core, as far from us as possible. The deep thump of the plasma pistol firing kept at us, chasing us around the catwalk as we searched for cover. Below, I could see Captain Paetkau circling the core, pistol in hand, looking for us.

"I have a clean shot," David said from the door to the decon room.

"No!" Esaal called out. "Do not fire. Every shot risks destabilizing the core. The bulkheads are designed to dampen energy surges, but the core is not."

"Tell her that," I muttered as I dodged another blast from below.

The chamber was quickly clearing out, as the crew did their best to avoid the one-sided firefight blazing around them. Captain Paetkau was firing wildly. She caught a crewman in the shoulder, but didn't seem to notice that she was hitting her own crew. As the wounded man was dragged out of the chamber, Paetkau continued to fire indiscriminately, narrowly missing several others.

Esaal kept his rifle trained on Paetkau, but didn't fire. I assumed he had his weapon set to fire anti-personnel rounds, since an anti-tank round would be worse than the hot plasma Paetkau was firing. He leaned to one side as a plasma bolt flew past his head, but didn't move. It was obvious that the Captain was firing randomly.

"Captain!" I yelled. "Captain Paetkau, cease fire!"

She answered with several more shots. One of them very narrowly missing David and Amra as they peeked out of the decon chamber door. They retreated inside; Amra covering the right side of his face from what I assume was a plasma burn. David hurried to help him, while Esaal and I circled around the core, trying to stay out of sight.

"Captain Paetkau, please, you're going to hit the core. You're going to destroy the ship."

"You can't stop it!" the Captain yelled. "I have my orders. The experiment has gone ahead as planned. You can't stop it!"

"Stand down," I yelled. "Stop shooting, before you blow us all up!."

"You're trying to stop the experiment. I won't let you do that. I have my orders," she called back. She sounded calm, resolute. She was utterly sure of herself. Psychotics usually were.

"Does she not realize the consequences of her actions?" Esaal asked.

"She's suffering from temporal psychosis," I replied. "The security officer we fought on deck 2 was worse, but anyone exposed to the core malfunction is affected."

"This mental condition is not something I am familiar with," he said, cocking his head. "I was not aware that human brains were so delicate. How do we relieve her symptoms?"

"A bullet," I said as another shot struck the catwalk nearby. "She's gone. You can't cure psychosis with a flip of a switch or a pill."

"Then we must kill her, Captain Mallory," Esaal concluded. He looked at me closely. "Are you prepared to kill a superior officer? An Edra could never do so."

"If that's what it takes, yeah," I said, unhappy to say it.

"If I were operating on my own, as I was before we took the bridge, I would be permitted to kill your Captain," Esaal explained. "However, since we are operating together, even temporarily, I am bound to respect your command hierarchy, putting you on equal footing with my own rank. I can only kill the Captain with your express permission."